Article by Andy Gladwin, Head of Cheetah Digital’s Global Mobile GTM.
There is a growing pile of evidence shedding light on what many of us already know: We are obsessed with our mobiles. For marketers and brands, this obsession translates into endless opportunities, especially when the third party cookie is broken and relationship marketing emerges as the king of the marketing paradigm.
As mobile has become an extension of the consumer (48% of Australians say they check their mobile phone at least once every 30 minutes), it is now at the heart of relationship marketing. That’s because relevant and timely messaging, which SMS and apps provide so easily, is the key to educating customers, reducing friction, considering purchases, and developing deeper relationships.
APAC marketers get it. In fact, 58% of APAC marketers are creating mobile-specific content as a strategy to improve engagement, and most marketing professionals (84%) consider ad length and design for mobile when creating mobile content , as per the recent WARC report.
Getting Mobile Marketing Right
Four ways to leverage mobile marketing to convert customers into brand advocates:
1. Master the Value Exchange: Before any marketing can take place, you have to get consent to communicate with your audience and learn about their real interests. First, an organization must identify its value proposition whereby the customer feels a compelling reason to reach that value by enrolling in a program. This is not limited to promotions, but may be for convenience, better service, information updates, exclusive access to content, and the list goes on – making this a “value exchange”.
Once the price is determined, it’s time for the brand to spread the word. This is where mobile plays an important role, as it builds customer awareness and enables sign-ups beyond laptops, pushing the net into any other environment. This can add a QR code or a short code to physical banners, TVs, receipts, in shop windows or on hotel bedside tables directing customers to use their mobiles to engage with the brand. Simply put, mobile offers unlimited flexibility to provide a gateway of value in any environment.
2. Power Real-time Contextual Engagement: In the field of digital marketing, it is all about getting the right message to the right person at the right time. Mobile plays a vital role in achieving real time, relevant and impactful customer engagement.
There is a growing number of markets where mobile penetration is more than 100%, providing an ecosystem where brands can be confident that they can serve any of their customers at any time. It’s not just the ubiquitous nature and “always on” accessibility that sets mobile apart, but the immediacy it can provide when compared to other channels.
This is why time- and business-critical messages are sent using mobile channels. Within banking, this could be for two-factor authentication or fraud alerts; For a restaurant, it can send a reservation reminder; Or for the retailer, this could include shipment delivery notificationsthe list goes on. But the power of urgency is what keeps old technology like SMS going double-digit year-on-year growth.
3. Remove the Silo: There is a lot of talk about communication channels not being in silos and for good reason. are affected by the interaction. Just because a client is enrolled in a loyalty program, it doesn’t mean that he is an advocate, nor is your brand his first choice. This is critical to being successful in driving long lasting customer relationships.
With this in mind, it is important for enterprises to actively seek customer feedback, listen to their preferences, and continue to check in with them. Mobile provides the ability to capture more information, address all customers, and drive real-time contextual engagement. As a result, we see brands leverage mobile apps as an effective solution to increase customer loyalty and benefit from the wealth of this environment.
Customers who have downloaded the enterprise app and opted-in for communications have actively chosen to have a close relationship with a brand; These are some of your most valuable customers. They need to be nurtured and fulfilled, and a loyalty program is a good fit for that.
4. Be a Customer Who Knows It All: The ability of marketers to communicate effectively with customers is highly dependent on ready access to key data sources and having the right tools to act on that data at scale.
With former data assets increasingly handcuffed through policy, regulation and a more data-conscious consumer, mobile apps can provide a unique environment from which brands can gain great insight into customer behavior.
Mobile apps provide insights like customer frequency, recency, pages viewed, products clicked and many more, which can help enterprises understand their customers better. This helps to serve them in the best possible way.
Customer curation in an app can help brands understand and meet the needs of their customers. For a bank, a short period may be required to make a payment, and if there is a delay, a communication may be initiated to provide assistance. For a sports team, a longer period in the app can be a success indicator, representing fan engagement and attention.
Mobile Marketing and Loyalty
Many major industries such as retail, banking, health care and telecommunications are jumping on the mobile marketing bandwagon by messaging their customers. From marketing campaigns to promotional codes and appointment reminders to bank alerts, A2P (application-to-person) messaging is on the rise.
Not only has the adoption and number of businesses using SMS increased, but the way they are using SMS and mobile marketing is also flourishing. For example, take a look at mobile wallets. Consumers are increasingly using their phones to make payments with their credit cards. One, it’s easy, because as we mentioned, their phones are always with them. And second, the pandemic has made us go contactless.
Marketers approach this behavior from a loyalty standpoint and see this as a great opportunity for loyalty cards to sit in these mobile wallets. They can just tap and redeem the points. Tapping can trigger messages a new level has been reached or a sale they might be interested in.
These are great opportunities to provide not only value but also convenience. In the context of engagement, we talk of moving from the physical to the digital world and then back to the physical world. Well, mobile increasingly resonates with brands as a way to do this, especially in this post-pandemic environment where physical contact is minimal.
Mobile marketing gives businesses and brands the ability to easily, effectively and instantly send messages to customers. In fact, once an SMS is sent, the urgency runs deep – about 90% of messages are read in 90 seconds.
